• Schreiben Sie uns!
  • Seite empfehlen
  • Druckansicht

Judith Johnston: Victorian Women and the Economies of Travel, Translation and Culture, 1830–1870.

‘Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak,’ wrote Thomas Carlyle, Victorian writer, social commentator, traveller and translator. It is a sentiment which would have resonated with the women featured in Judy Johnston’s monograph. Being translators and travellers themselves, Sarah Austin, Mary Margaret Busk, Anna Jameson, Charlotte Guest, Jane Sinnett and Mary Howitt were, like Carlyle, familiar with the trials of being a professional writer with a living to earn, not to mention the added tribulations due to their gender. Johnston’s is a scholarly and yet readable account of how these six Victorians crossed actual geographical and cultural spaces, be it on journeys from England to Wales, the European continent or Canada, all of which were made possible by the ongoing modernization which facilitated increased mobility. But they also crossed metaphorical spaces. These women translated works from other languages (German, ancient Welsh, Swedish) into English; they navigated the professional worlds of journalistic and creative writing; and in their own writings, they commented on issues of gender and national identity. On these real and symbolic journeys they overcame obstacles, discouragements and impossibilities by dint of sheer strength of character and doggedness, as becomes obvious in the detailed portraits Johnston paints of these women. Even the lesser-known figures – Busk, Guest and Sinnett – come alive in this study.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37307/j.1866-5381.2014.02.18
Lizenz: ESV-Lizenz
ISSN: 1866-5381
Ausgabe / Jahr: 2 / 2014
Veröffentlicht: 2014-11-19
Dieses Dokument ist hier bestellbar:
Dokument Judith Johnston: Victorian Women and the Economies of Travel, Translation and Culture, 1830–1870.